Growing the Movement for Reproductive Justice: Regional LOLA Training

From July 13-15th, NLIRH’s Community Mobilization team will be heading down to Charlotte, NC, to host its first Southeast Regional Latinas Organizing for Leadership and Advocacy (LOLA) training in Charlotte, NC. We will be convening activists for a weekend of intentional conversations and networking around reproductive justice.

With attacks and attempts by the government to intrude on the private lives of women, this is an especially critical moment to make sure that the voices of Latinas are heard loud and clear, and to ensure that the issues affecting us at the intersections of our identities are not forgotten about. The work we do at NLIRH utilizes an intersectional human rights and social justice framework, incorporating various aspects and issues, including those faced by immigrant and/or LGBT-identified individuals, to get a comprehensive look at the barriers Latinas face when it comes to our reproductive rights, because every part of our identity must be addressed when it comes to reproductive justice.

This three-day training focuses on creating a space around which to share experiences, learn skills, and strategize around reproductive justice campaigns. LOLA graduates have found more than they expected in this space, such as Sonia, a member of our NY Latina Advocacy Network:

“The LOLA training equipped me with a better understanding of reproductive justice and equipped me with a new community of women who I now call my family. Through such training we were able to start the NY chapter and create a space of intergenerational Latina immigrant women.”

Lucy, a member of the Texas Latina Advocacy Network, was deeply impacted by the training, stating:

“The month of February 2007 is forever ingrained on my life. During that month, I was privileged to attend the LOLA training. I never imagined that this training would change my life completely! … LOLA set a tone of social justice that made me even more passionate about my people, and my community. The knowledge and tools learned during LOLA opened many doors of success for the communities in which I worked, resulting in more reproductive health programs in some counties in the region; transportation was another success who received for some of areas of the Rio Grande Valley, among other achievements. Today I continue fighting and advocating for our communities to make changes and achieve the benefits of reproductive health. For these reasons I recommend that you take this training because your life will never be the same and your work will always be successful.”

We are currently accepting applications through June 15th for women to participate in this training. If you are interested in taking part in this experience, apply today! This training is offered at NO COST to participants residing in the southeast.NLIRH will cover the cost of travel to/from North Carolina and lodging in Charlotte. For more information on the training, visit our webpage. If you are interested and want to apply, here is a link to the application